The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy is a 1999 American action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It is a loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name and stars Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the titular role as the reanimated mummy. The film follows adventurer Rick O'Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, with a librarian and her brother, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest from the reign of the pharaoh Seti I. Filming began in Marrakech, Morocco, on May 4, 1998, and lasted seventeen weeks. The crew had to endure dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes while filming in the Sahara desert. The film was the first to use the natural crater formation Gara Medouar, which was later used in the Bond film Spectre (2015) and others. The visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic, who blended film and computer-generated imagery to create the mummy. Jerry Goldsmith provided the orchestral score. The Mummy opened on May 7, 1999 and grossed $43 million in 3,210 theaters during its opening weekend in the United States. The film went on to gross $416 million worldwide. The box-office success led to two sequels—The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) —as well as an animated series and the prequel/spin-off film The Scorpion King (2002). Plot In Thebes, Egypt, 1290 BC, high priest Imhotep has a love affair with Anck-su-Namun, the mistress of Pharaoh Seti I. Imhotep and Anck-su-Namun kill Pharaoh after he discovers their affair. Imhotep flees, while Anck-su-Namun kills herself, intending for Imhotep to resurrect her. Imhotep and his priests steal her corpse and travel to Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, but the resurrection ritual is stopped by Seti's bodyguards, the Medjai. Imhotep's priests are all mummified alive, while Imhotep is sentenced to suffer the Hom Dai, the worst of Egyptian curses: his tongue is cut out, and he is buried alive with flesh-eating scarab beetles. He is sealed away in a sarcophagus at the feet of a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis and kept under strict surveillance by the Medjai to prevent Imhotep's return. In 1926, Jonathan Carnahan presents his sister, Evelyn—a librarian and aspiring Egyptologist—with an intricate box and map that lead to Hamunaptra. Jonathan reveals he stole the box from an American adventurer, Rick O'Connell, who discovered the city three years earlier while in the French Foreign Legion. Rick makes a deal with Evelyn to lead them there if they release him from prison. Rick guides Evelyn and her party to the city, where the group encounters a band of American treasure hunters led by Rick's cowardly acquaintance Beni Gabor. The expeditions are confronted by the Medjai; against the warrior Ardeth Bay's advice to leave the city, the two expeditions continue to excavate. Evelyn searches for the famous Book of the Living, a book made of pure gold. However, instead of finding the book she stumbles upon Imhotep's remains. The team of Americans, meanwhile, discover the black Book of the Dead, accompanied by canopic jars carrying Anck-su-Namun's preserved organs. At night, Evelyn takes the Book of the Dead and reads a page aloud, accidentally awakening Imhotep. The expeditions return to Cairo, and Imhotep follows them with the help of Beni. Imhotep returns to full strength by killing the members of the American expedition and brings the ten plagues back to Egypt. Seeking a way to stop Imhotep, Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan meet Ardeth at a museum. Ardeth hypothesizes that Imhotep wants to resurrect Anck-su-Namun by sacrificing Evelyn. Evelyn believes that if the Book of the Dead brought Imhotep back to life, the Book of the Living can kill him again, and deduces the book's whereabouts. Imhotep corners the group with an army of slaves. Evelyn agrees to accompany Imhotep if he spares the rest of the group. Although Imhotep goes back on his word, Rick and the others fight their way to safety. Imhotep, Evelyn, and Beni return to Hamunaptra, pursued by Rick, Jonathan, and Ardeth. Imhotep prepares to sacrifice Evelyn, but she is rescued after an intense battle with Imhotep's mummified priests. When Evelyn reads from the Book of Amun-Ra, Imhotep becomes mortal, and Rick wounds him. Imhotep leaves the world of the living, vowing revenge. While looting treasure, Beni accidentally sets off a booby trap and is trapped by a swarm of flesh-eating scarabs as Hamunaptra collapses into the sand. Ardeth bids Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan goodbye, and the trio rides off into the sunset on a pair of camels laden with Beni's treasure. Cast *Brendan Fraser plays Rick O'Connell, an American adventurer who served in the French Foreign Legion. Producer James Jacks offered the role of Rick O'Connell to Tom Cruise (who was later cast in the reboot film), Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but the actors were not interested or could not fit the role into their respective schedules. Jacks and director Stephen Sommers were impressed with the money that George of the Jungle was making at the box office and cast Brendan Fraser as a result; Sommers also commented that he felt Fraser fit the Errol Flynn swashbuckling character he had envisioned perfectly. The actor understood that his character "doesn't take himself too seriously, otherwise the audience can't go on that journey with him". *Rachel Weisz portrays Evelyn Carnahan, a clumsy but brilliant Egyptologist. Evelyn undertakes the expedition to Hamunaptra to discover an ancient book, proving herself to her peers. The character was named in tribute to Lady Evelyn Carnarvon, the daughter of amateur Egyptologist Lord Carnarvon, both present at the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Rachel Weisz was not a big fan of horror films but did not see this film as such. As she said in an interview, "It's hokum, a comic book world." *Arnold Vosloo plays Imhotep. Vosloo understood the approach that Sommers was going for in his screenplay, but only agreed to take on the role of Imhotep "if I could do it absolutely straight. From Imhotep's point of view, this is a skewed version of 'Romeo and Juliet'. Category:1999 releases Category:Movies Category:Theatrical releases Category:Horror movies Category:Action movies Category:Universal Studios Category:Remakes